The conservative pessimists are out in full force today here at
The American Spectator; and I could not disagree
with them more.
Ben Stein, for instance,
laments that “our (sort of) pal in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, is
under siege,” and that the Obama administration has had the
effrontery to urge Mubarak to begin the transition to a new and
more representative government.
Of course, nary a vote has been had yet in Egypt; and yet Jed
Babbin knows
with certainty that a new Egyptian government will “gradually
become an Islamist government.”
Aaron Goldstein, meanwhile, wrongly
suggests that anti-Semitism and a hatred for Israel are the
driving force behind the Egyptian uprising. And, to buttress his
concern, he cites Sarah Palin, who
told David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network
(CBN):
We want to be able to trust those who are screaming for
democracy in Egypt. [But first] we need to find out who was behind
the turmoil and the revolts and the protests.
I like and admire Sarah Palin in many ways; but her focus here
is entirely misplaced. Her comment does, indeed, bring to mind, as
the Daily News’ Mike Lupica
notes, Groucho Marx’s famous line: “Who are you gonna believe:
me or your own lyin’ eyes?”
The fact is that ever since this uprising began, reputable
Western reporters have been on the ground in Egypt, talking with
and interviewing the protesters. We know perfectly well what the
these people want and what they seek: a better life, greater
economic opportunity, and a more responsive government.
The fact that the Egyptian people often lack the democratic
vocabulary necessary to give voice to their inchoate political
aspirations doesn’t make their aspirations wrong and illegitimate.
To the contrary: that the Egyptian people have done so much with so
little re their uprising is remarkable and a cause for genuine
optimism.
Egypt, remember, is a poor country ruled by a corrupt autocracy.
As such, it has been a breeding ground for Islamists and other
radicals who seek to destroy the West.
The mass uprising there thus offers the United States its
greatest strategic opportunity in a generation: to finally and
belatedly bring about much-needed and long-overdue reforms to the
one part of the world where it is most urgently needed: the Middle
East.
Does the Egyptian revolution pose a risk? Absolutely. Liberty is
never guaranteed; it is always at risk, especially in a country,
such as Egypt, whose democratic roots are fragile and newly born.
Which is why it is incumbent upon the United States to actively
intervene to help foster democracy there.
The alternative is to watch the Egyptian revolution flounder and
fail and perhaps even get hijacked by the Islamists. This as a new
generation of Egyptians, empowered by the Internet and
social-networking technologies, becomes radicalized and hostile to
the West.
The irony is that conservative pessimism is in full bloom even
as we on the Right celebrate the centennial of Ronald Reagan’s
birth. Yet Reagan was the antithesis of pessimistic.
He was, in fact, a great optimist who saw, seized and created
strategic opportunities — in Poland, Nicaragua, Grenada, Angola
and elsewhere — to rollback communism.
In Egypt today, the United States has a similar opportunity to
rollback radical Islam. Yet all many conservatives can do is wring
their hands, shake their heads and despair. But given what’s at
stake, given what we know, and given who we are as a people, this
attitude is wholly inappropriate and wrong — and it is decidedly
un-Reagan-esque.
The United States can help the Egyptian people to bring about
the democratic change they need and want, and we should do so —
now.
